


Closer

by gazeboseddie



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, barista! Calum., college! Ashton, college! Calum, college! Luke, college! Michael, it literally takes them forever to get together, luke is kinda oblivious, soccer! Calum, sorry about that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8032603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gazeboseddie/pseuds/gazeboseddie
Summary: At the age of one, the initials of your soulmate formed on your wrist. Even though things would be a lot easier if their wasn't someone's initials tattooed onto his wrist, Luke was eager to meet his soulmate. Sometimes he wished there wasn't a tattoo on his wrist that determined who he loved. That way he could love his friend the way he wanted. But the mark of his wrist said otherwise. He couldn't love his friend the way he wanted to and he never would.Luke and Ashton try to figure things out for themselves while attending college.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is my first 5sos fic! Sorry if it sucks. Also, I made to where they were basically all the same age. So basically Ashton is the same age as the other boys. Tell me what you think! Also, I'm American so sorry if I don't use Australian slang.
> 
> Pairings: Cake (Luke and Calum), Mashton (Michael and Ashton), and minor Lashton (Luke and Ashton)

Luke sucked in a breath as he looked down at the initials written on his right wrist. He had had those initials there for as long as he could remember and today was his first day of college. He had yet to find his soulmate and it seemed like everyone else his age had already found theirs. Was he cursed forever?  Was he never going to find the love of his life? His soulmate? It seemed like everyone’s lives revolved around finding their mate. Luke seemed to be no different, he was always searching for his other half. He wished he didn’t care this much, that he didn’t care at all. His life shouldn’t depend on someone else yet he allowed himself to believe that he had to find the person that matched with him in order to feel complete. What if his mate didn’t feel that way about their tattoo? That they didn’t care for their mark? What if they took one look at him and laughed?

 

The young man shook his head as he walked the campus of his new school. It was fucking scary. It was so real. Like he was getting shit together by just being there. His mom had reminded him that he hadn’t met his mate every chance she got and told him that maybe he’d met them at university. Luke sure hoped so. He couldn’t look at other couples without feeling completely jealous, wishing he had that for himself. He wanted it so bad. He wanted the love of his life to hurry the fuck up and come into his life. He was told to be patient and that things like this took time. But how much time? When was his going to find his better half? When was his future going to start? He never answered these questions out loud, instead he faked a grin and went along with whatever was said.

 

“Luke,” Luke’s best friend, Ashton, greeted him after jogging to catch up with the long legged young man. “What’s up?”

 

“Ready for the rest of my life.”

 

“Not that shit again, Luke. It’ll happen eventually.”

 

“You don’t even believe in it!” Ashton refused to think that a tattoo could determine his soulmate. He argued that it was complete bullshit and it only mattered who you clicked with and felt you could spend your life with. Luke could see Ash’s point, but he didn’t believe him. Why else would they be given those initials from the age of one? Why had someone’s initials shown up randomly the day they turned one? The tattoos had been right for many others and he didn’t see why Ashton didn’t believe in it. But he tried not to argue with his friend about it for too long, it was stressful for the both of them and neither one needed that. They agreed to disagree.

 

“But you do and I support _you_.” Ash absentmindedly ran his finger along his own tattoo. “I just don’t think it’s just up to some fucking tattoo.”

 

“I don’t understand you, Irwin. What happens when you find your soulmate? What happens then?”

 

“You can punch me in the face if that happens.”

 

“ _ When, _ ” Luke corrected his friend.

 

“Don’t make me punch you in the face.” Ashton grinned anyways at Luke’s stubbornness. They always argued about this, always. It never failed to start a heated debate between the two. Luke believed that Ashton was going to find his soulmate and eat his words. He made a bet that he was going to find his soulmate before he found his. Luke was somewhat okay with that, with Ashton finding love before him. It just seemed natural. It seemed like it was supposed to happen that way. Luke just knew it. He also wanted Ashton to eat his words and get his foot out of his ass. He was the only one of his friends that didn’t believe in their tattoos.

 

“Do you ever wonder what things would be like if we didn’t have these tattoos?” Luke asked innocently. He had never asked Ash that, or anyone for that matter. The start of a new school year had Luke wondering a lot of things. “Like, how things would be different. Maybe I’d be a whole different person.”

 

“I don’t think anything would be different,” Ashton stated matter-of-factly. He met his friend’s gaze with an eyeroll. “Oh come on, Luke. Nothing would be different. Because everyone that’s in love would still be in love even if they didn’t have those stupid fucking tattoos. Because love doesn’t give a shit about some fucking tattoo.” Ashton stopped and pulled his friend to the side so they weren’t in anyone’s way. “ _ This,” _ he said as he held up his arm and tapped his tattoo. “Has nothing to do with who people love.” The initials on Ashton’s wrist read  _ MGC.  _ “Your heart has to do with who you love. This tattoo determines nothing.”

 

“Okay, then why is everyone’s tattoos matching up then? Hm? Explain that, Irwin.”

 

“Coincidence.”

 

Luke snorted. “You’re so thick.”

 

“You wanna know what I think would happen if we didn’t have these stupid tattoos?” Luke raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “I think we’d be together.” Luke was caught off guard by his best friend’s words and didn’t know what to say. “Think about it, Luke. We were each other’s first kisses, there was something there and you know it.” Luke couldn’t deny it. He had been into his best friend at one point in time. During sleep overs, Luke always made excuses to why he had to sleep in the same bed as Ash and not on the floor. And when they got older, they shared kisses in the middle of the night. It seemed like they couldn’t help themselves, it just felt kind of right.

 

But that had stopped. Luke couldn’t place when it had or why it had, but it had stopped. “Maybe,” was all Luke could muster out.

 

“ _ Maybe _ ,” Ashton repeated bitterly. He turned away from his friend and crossed his arms. Luke was reminded of a pouting toddler but didn’t say anything. This was too serious to joke.

“You can’t get mad at me for this. It’s not my fault.” He held out his wrist and pointed to his initials.  _ CTH _ . “It’s this thing’s fault.” He loved his friend, but he knew in his heart that he wasn’t his soulmate. He wasn’t the person that he was supposed to live his life with. Maybe in a different life, they would have been perfect for each other. In a different life, he would have been so madly in love with Ashton Fletcher Irwin. But this was his life and he was not madly in love with his best friend. If only that were the case, things would be so much easier. He had wanted them. A small part of him still did. But they weren’t made for each other. Ashton had to have understood that.

 

As much as Ashton’s lips felt nice against his and how his body felt warm against his own, they weren’t for each other. It made Luke bitter. It made him wish things were different. “Whatever,” Ashton grumbled. Luke knew no matter what he said or did, he couldn’t make this any better. He couldn’t make  _ them _ any better. “You know it would have been me and you.” His voice was soft and unsteady. A thousand emotions ran through his words. He was right, of course. It would have been them. Luke nodded and pulled on his friend’s arm to get him to start walking with him. “I love you,” Ashton whispered so softly that Luke almost didn’t hear him.

 

“I love you too.” He knew it wasn’t the love Ashton wanted. The love that Ashton begged for. The love he talked about. The love that ran through the words that he spoke to Luke. He sometimes wished it were Ashton’s initials tattooed on his wrist. So he didn’t feel so bad. So he could love his friend and nothing bad would come out of it. But it wasn’t Ashton’s initials written on his wrist and those weren’t Luke’s written on Ashton’s. He remembered the first time Ashton had told him he loved him.

 

_ It was dark. Almost midnight and the two teenage boys couldn’t stop giggling about a stupid joke Ashton had told. When the laughing had stopped, things began to heat up between the two. It was silent for a moment before their lips found each other and they were reaching for any skin they could get ahold of. Luke had rested his hand in Ash’s curls and softly gripped them between his fingers. He tasted like the candy they had just eaten. _

 

_ He wrapped his long leg around his friend as they kissed and Ashton’s hand gripped his hip as their lips moved against each other. It didn’t take long for them to disconnect to get some air. In the back of his head, Luke knew it was wrong. But it felt right. “F-fuck.” They had kissed before, but not like that. Not like they needed each other. _

 

_ “I love you,” Ashton whispered to his friend before pulling him in for another kiss. _

 

Luke wished he could go back to that. It was so innocent and nice. To just hold each other. Sometimes he prayed that his tattoo would change to Ashton’s initials and that Ashton's bore his. He still wished that he was his but he wasn’t and they both knew it. They both knew that they weren’t each others. But they wished they were. It just seemed right. But it wasn’t right. It was wrong. They walked to their first classes in silence. Ashton reached his before Luke and they stood outside his classroom. “Good luck,” Luke said softly. Ashton nodded and placed a kiss on his friend’s cheek.

 

The contact made Luke weak and he found himself wishing for more. It was so wrong of him. Once Ashton was inside his classroom, Luke walked slowly to his. He had time. Time to think. To think about how shitty things were. How shitty of a friend he was. How he wished this stupid tattoo would go away and he could just kiss his best friend. It wasn’t fair. He took a seat at an empty table and set down his messenger bag beside him. He felt like shit and this wasn’t how he wanted to start his first day.

 

***

 

Luke didn’t sleep well that night, he kept tossing and turning the whole night. Finally, he decided to just get up and start the day. He felt exhausted but he knew sleep wasn’t an option at this point. Instead, he pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and an old band tee. If he wasn’t going to get any sleep, he should get coffee instead. He slipped on an old pair of sneakers that should have been thrown out a long time ago and headed out the door with his wallet and keys. He decided to walk instead of drive, it would wake him up faster. Plus, it probably wouldn’t be safe for him to be behind the wheel of his car. The coffee shop near his home, he still lived at home and would be staying there while he was in college, was in walking distance. It wasn’t so bad.

 

The air was cool and crisp, a bit chilly. Luke cursed himself for not bringing a jacket with him. He was an idiot. It was such a fucking idiot. He shouldn’t have let things get that far with Ashton but he couldn’t find himself regretting it. He couldn’t regret it, he didn’t regret it. He loved it. He loved holding him in his arms and pressing kisses into his curls. No one had known about them, people would judge. They would be told to stop. They should have stopped. It wouldn’t have been this bad. He wouldn’t have had it this bad. But he was still determined to find his soulmate. And he wished Ashton would find his.

 

Just as he was about to walk into the coffee shop, Luke’s phone rang. A picture of Ashton appeared on his screen and Luke quickly answered the call. “You’re up early,” he greeted with a small smile.

 

“Come punch me in the face.” Luke knew just what that meant. He had met them. Ashton had met his soulmate. Part of Luke was a bit jealous, but the bigger part of him was glad his best friend had met his other half.

  
“I’m on my way,” Luke said while looking into the coffee shop window. There was a barista he didn’t recognize. A boy with dark hair with a blonde streak. Luke decided against coffee, this new kid wouldn’t know his order and he had to get to Ashton right away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Here's chapter two! I'm not sure how many chapters this will have! Again, I'm American so please bear with the American slang/words/whatever. Also, I'm glad people like this. I'm pretty shit at writing.

Luke met Ashton at his home. His mother opened the door and Luke met a pacing Ashton in his room. He didn’t say anything, he just sat on Ashton’s bed and watched his best friend pace. When he was ready to talk, he would. But Luke was impatient with his friend, but decided he didn’t want to push it. If he were in Ashton’s shoes, he would be worried about what he wanted to say. Maybe if he punched him in the face he’d stop pacing around. He wondered how long Ashton had been pacing. “Dude, there’s going to be a permanent line on your floor from your pacing.”

 

“Dude!” Ashton said loudly as if he just noticed Luke there. Maybe he had, he hadn’t been paying attention to Luke at all. He stopped and faced Luke, grabbing his shoulders. “Dude!” He repeated as he shook Luke’s shoulders. Luke moved out of his grasp and against his wall. “I met him! I met my soulmate!”

 

“Well? What’s his name? Give me the details.” He patted the spot next to him and Ash didn’t hesitate to sit down and lay his head in Luke’s lap. Luke’s hands automatically found themselves in Ashton’s curls and listened to him talk. He went on about his soulmate, Michael, and how they met at the record shop that Ashton really liked. Luke had been there plenty of times before with Ashton and also enjoyed the shop. He explained that Michael was from out of town and was going to university away from home. Luke asked if Michael was going to the same school as them and Ashton explained that he took a few classes at their school but most of his classes online.

 

“He takes classes online because it helps him focus better. He doesn’t like a classroom setting and unfortunately for him, not mandatory class is online. So, he keeps his classroom classes to a minimum and takes whatever he can online,” Ashton explained. “He likes records, Luke. Records. Like not just collecting either. He has a record player and he invited me over to-”

 

“He invited you over,” Luke teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

 

“Oh shut up!” Ashton squeaked, his face growing red. “We’re going to be listening to records.”

 

“Uh-huh, sure.” Teasing Ash was easy. The boy in his lap stuck out his tongue which caused Luke to laugh. “I’m joking, Ash. I’m happy for you, bro.”

 

“I’m happy too,” Ashton grinned.

 

***

 

Luke was happy for his friend but he was feeling incredibly lonely now. Ashton was spending a lot of time with Michael. Michael was perfect for Ashton. But when was Luke going to meet his perfect person? When was he going to meet his soulmate? He was growing impatient and just wanted his life to fall into place. Ashton and Michael must have both sensed a change in Luke so they invited him to a soccer game. Luke wasn’t into sports much but they wouldn’t take no for an answer. So, there he was bundled up in his jacket and scarf, being a third wheel. If this was supposed to help him, it wasn’t.

 

Luke didn’t pay much attention to the game at first, he was more concerned with his phone. But since it was chilly outside and he didn’t have gloves, he eventually stuck his hands in his pockets and focused on the game. He didn’t know much about soccer but he wanted the people in red jerseys to win. “Whose school is this?” Luke questioned, looking over at his two friends. It wasn’t his and he was sure that it wasn’t Michael’s either.

 

“My friend is playing,” Michael explained. “He’s number six.”

 

Luke looked back at the field to find who he was talking about. He saw the jersey but had trouble getting a good look at his face. He shrugged, he would probably meet him after the game anyways. Throughout the game, Luke found himself watching number six and hoping he’d score a goal every time he had the ball. He was soon pulled out of his daze when his phone kept vibrating in his pocket. He pulled his phone from his pocket and then it hit him, he had plays with his mom. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I gotta go guys.” He held up his phone before getting up, answering it, and leaving his friends behind.

 

***

 

Studying was taking up a lot of Luke’s time and it was hard to make time for anything else He felt tired all the time but he had to pass his classes in order to have the career he wanted. He had always been good with kids and decided to make a career out of it, he was majoring in Early Childhood. So that met he had to take some basic classes along with classes he would need in order to be a great teacher one day. Something he learned from his field of study was that teachers never stopped learning. Even when he became a teacher, he would still occasionally have to take classes in order to keep his teaching job. He wanted to be past this college stuff though, he wanted that done and over with so he could just start teaching.

 

But until then, he needed coffee to function. His local coffee shop knew his order. Surprisingly enough, he never ran into that boy he saw before Ashton called him. Maybe he had a set schedule and only worked certain days and hours. Luke didn’t know why he was suddenly wondering about the boy as he walked to the coffee shop. He blamed it on curiosity and wanting to know information that was none of his business. He let out a sigh as he pulled open the door of the shop. Familiar scents filled his nose and he began to crave his usual drink. He looked around to see who was working today and grew nervous when he saw the boy that had just seconds ago filled his thoughts. He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly nervous, he had no reason to be. He wanted to say it was because this boy wouldn’t know his order but he knew it was because he was bad at talking to new people.

 

He let out another sigh and made his way to the counter. He pulled up the sleeves of his jacket and rubbed the scruff on his chin with his hand. His tattoo was in clear view for anyone to see. It didn’t take long for it to be his turn. The boy behind the counter grinned at him until he noticed his tattoo. The smile faded rather quickly and was replaced with quite a serious face. The sudden change in behavior made Luke’s eyebrow raise and he was about to ask what was wrong. But before he could, the boy asked for his order. “What can I get you?” the dark haired boy asked.

 

“Uh,” Luke paused for a moment. He didn’t know what this guy’s problem was but he didn’t like it. He decided not to call him out on it because it wouldn’t have been like him to confront someone like that. Or at all. “Caramel Macchiato with coconut milk and three pumps of caramel.” The boy writes on the cup and Luke hands him some money.

 

Once Luke gets his drink, he takes a seat by the window and pulls out his phone to text Ash. Dude, this guy gave me the cold shoulder when he saw my tattoo. Ashton was taking too long for Luke’s liking so he set the phone down and picked up his drink. Before he brought it to his lips, he noticed the writing on it. LRH. His initials. He looked up at the counter for the boy but he wasn’t there anymore. Instead, there was a blue haired girl in his place. He quickly set down his drink, not very carefully either because it almost spilled over, and picked up his phone. He quickly dialed Ashton’s number and got up from his seat. He grabbed his drink with one hand and held his phone to his ear with the other.

 

“I was just about to text you back,” Ash greeted him. Luke could hear his annoyance.

 

“He wrote my initials on my cup and then left, Ash.”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

“That’s why he was acting weird! Ash, that guy is my soulmate!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know nothing about soccer or Caramel Macchiato. Also, cliff hanger.....dun....dun....dunnnnnnn

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Well that was the end of the first chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
